IN BRIEF
Investment : Only 48% of budget dispersed; ministry wants deadline extended
Forty eight per cent of the Bt379-billion investment budget in the 2006 fiscal year has been disbursed, well below the 73 per cent target, according to Caretaker Deputy Finance Minister Varathep Ratanakorn.
After the budget meeting yesterday, he said the Finance Ministry would ask today for the Cabinet's approval to extend the deadline for long-term investment contract signing from June 30 to August 31. Without the extension, there would be a drop in public investment in 2007 as the budget bill for that year is still to be endorsed. Constitution court : Udomsak appointed to bench Former Supreme Administrative Court judge Udomsak Nitimontree was endorsed yesterday by a majority of senators in a secret ballot as a Constitution Court judge. The post carries a nine-year term. With Udomsak's entry, all of the court's 15 seats have been filled. Udomsak will replace Kramol Tongthammachart, who retired last year. New senator : Klanarong returns to graft fight Senator-elect Klanarong Chanthik vowed yesterday to resume his role as a corruption fighter and to scrutinise the government's use of power. He said one duty of the Senate was to be a check on the executive branch's power. Klanarong, the former secretary-general of the National Counter Corruption Commission, yesterday reported to the Senate Secretariat after the Election Commission endorsed his candidacy last Thursday.
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